How Law School Financial Aid Works

Law school tuition can seem outlandishly expensive. Like the cost of higher education across the board, it has grown faster than the rate of inflation for decades. However, the “sticker price” of law school can be deceiving.

Applicants commonly receive financial aid in the form of grants and loans, some of the latter with favorable terms or conditions for loan forgiveness. Furthermore, law schools award many applicants merit-based aid, ranging from discounted tuition to a free ride.

Before balking at the cost of law school, potential applicants should consider four sources of financial aid:

— Merit-based aid

— Need-based aid

— Named scholarships

— Outside sources of funding

Merit-Based Aid

To maintain their reputation for prestige and selectivity, law schools use financial aid to entice applicants with highly competitive profiles to accept admission. This means that taking concrete steps to boost your candidacy, like raising your LSAT score, may substantially trim your tuition.

[How to Get a Perfect Score on the LSAT]

Merit scholarships can take a range of forms, but generally all applicants are automatically considered for such offers. You don’t have to apply separately.

Note that some merit scholarships may be conditional, meaning that recipients have to maintain a certain GPA to keep the scholarship. Before accepting a conditional scholarship, research the school’s grading curve and the percentage of recipients who maintain the scholarship, which law schools are obligated to disclose.

Notably, merit aid is negotiable. Some schools have a formal process for reconsideration of financial aid, while others accept such requests by email. Applicants may even negotiate scholarships after making a deposit on tuition.

Although law school admissions officers tolerate scholarship negotiations, they tend to dislike reducing the admissions process to a game of money and rankings, like negotiations over sports contracts. Thus, requests for reconsideration should be gracious and considerate.

Don’t try to haggle and don’t “fish” for offers you have no interest in taking. Remember that you are weighing an offer for a life-changing professional program of study, not bargaining down the price of a used car.

The strongest evidence to bring to scholarship negotiations is a higher award from a comparable law school. Explain why the choice is difficult; perhaps you feel drawn to one law school’s location but find it hard to turn down a higher scholarship offer from a more distant school.

[Read: Do the Benefits of Law School Outweigh the Price? A Look at the Numbers]

Need-Based Aid

Applicants who seek public financial assistance should complete the FAFSA, just as they may have done to pay for college. The federal government treats law school students as financially independent of their parents for the purposes of determining aid eligibility, just like other graduate students.

Law schools may also offer some form of financial aid based solely on an applicant’s ability to pay for law school — the student’s demonstrated financial need — through a mix of loans and grants. A few schools, like Harvard Law School in Massachusetts, Stanford Law School in California and Yale Law School in Connecticut, award financial aid only on the basis of demonstrated need.

Law schools differ in the financial information they request about an applicant’s parents or family, and in how they weight various factors in calculating final aid. Interested applicants should ask to discuss the specifics of their situation with a financial aid officer at a given school.

Generally, need-based financial assistance for law school takes the form of loans rather than grants because law students are assumed to be older and have easier access to educational loans due to their postgraduate career prospects.

Law school graduates planning to pursue public interest jobs should note that federal and school loan forgiveness programs may reduce their debt burden, regardless of their financial status before law school.

Named Scholarships

Law schools may have dedicated funding sources for applicants who meet certain criteria, such as a commitment to public service or a Native American or Indigenous affiliation.

[READ: 7 Deciding Factors in Law School Admissions]

In some cases, applicants must apply for such scholarships directly, often with an essay or statement of purpose. In other cases, admissions officers might reach out to relevant applicants individually to set up an interview or request more information.

Named scholarships can be sweeping, including benefits like full tuition reimbursement, housing stipends and opportunities for faculty mentorship.

Outside Sources of Funding

Finally, applicants might consider applying for scholarships from independent organizations like the AccessLex Institute and American Bar Association. Law students may be eligible for academic scholarships provided by various foundations and private firms.

The Law School Admission Council maintains a list of third-party scholarships, and law school financial aid offices may also be able to provide suggestions.

Inevitably, cost is an important factor for many applicants in choosing a law school. The uncertainty of financial aid awards is one more reason why applicants should apply to a wide range of law schools.

More from U.S. News

How to Decide Where to Apply for Law School

How High Is the Typical College GPA Among Accepted Law School Applicants?

How Many Law Schools Should You Apply To?

How Law School Financial Aid Works originally appeared on usnews.com

Update 01/27/25: This article was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.

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